More on YellowPages.com’s Agency

Got to speak today with Matt Crowley, VP of marketing for YellowPages.com, about the company’s choice of GSD&M as an agency for its upcoming site relaunch.

I updated the original piece with a few more details, so you can check that out. I also also asked Matt how YellowPages.com intends to overcome its stodgy brand image, given that Google and Yahoo! are arguably “hipper” brands going after the same local search audience.

“There are pros and cons [of the Yellow Pages name],” he admitted. “I don’t know if it’s something we need to overcome, but it’s something we need to be alert to. We’ll be aware of it and we’ll be smart about making our case and positioning ourselves well.”

Keep an eye out for the ads due out early next year.

A couple of things YellowPages.com has in its favor – feet on the street (an extensive local sales force) and the marketing assets of its parent companies. It couldn’t hurt to have the yellowpages.com URL splashed on the front of millions of phone books, even if people end up throwing them away. Still, I’d think some innovative online marketing is in order. After all, you’re trying to reach people who are going online for information, right?

Emotion can be very powerful when trying to reach an audience, and it can be boosted by linking it with the way memory affects human behaviour. How can all of this apply to the demanding mobile audience?